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The Circuit of the Americas, which will host its first race on Sunday, is ready for action. Photo by MIKE LARSON

One man who will be more anxious than most when Formula One cars finally take to the Circuit of the Americas this week will be track architect Hermann Tilke, for whom Austin is the latest in a long line of design projects.

Tilke changed the face of F1 when he was charged with building Malaysia's Sepang circuit, which held its first race in 1999. It was the first of a swath of new-generation tracks hewn from empty sites, and financed often by national or regional governments. Tilke designed the venues in Bahrain, China, Turkey, Abu Dhabi, Korea and India, and his company managed the construction projects. He's very happy with Austin.

“I think it's a drivers' track,” Tilke told Autoweek. “But all the F1 drivers are so good they can manage anything. It's very good for spectators. There's a kind of arena there where the cars come in at high speed, and which may be an overtaking point.

“You have a lot of corners, so you need the downforce for this, but then you lose the speed on the straights. It's maybe in between middle and high downforce [in terms of car setup]. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it works in reality. You need at least one race, or maybe two, before you know if it's good or not.”

Tilke downplayed suggestions that COTA's corner designs were inspired by those of other venues.

“It's dangerous to compare it with other tracks,” he said. “A classic corner is not only the corner, it's before and after. For an Eau Rouge [type of corner as found in Belgium], you need a minimum of two kilometers of track length, otherwise it will not work! Of course we try to learn from every track.

“The first corner [at COTA] is really unique. The start/finish line is flat out, then you climb up a hill, and the elevation changes in the corner. You don't see the apex; it's very difficult to find the right line there. I expect in first practice some will miss it, but they will learn it of course.”

Tilke has had to build tracks on swamps, in deserts, and on rocky terrain, and nearly always against impossible deadlines. COTA, by comparison, was relatively trouble-free.

“It was a really super site, really good,” he said. “It was slightly hilly, so we used every elevation. The ground is a kind of clay, and it was not so easy. But construction went really well. It was a very good company. They did a fantastic job. Everything will be ready—close to the race, but that's normal.”